Asus A8N-E network speed only 100Mbps

[Z300M]

I have set up a machine using an old Asus A8N-E motherboard with 4GB RAM (the max.) and four 2TB SATA drives in RAIDZ1 with FreeNAS 8.0.1 RC1. Everything seems fine except the network speed: the onboard networking (nVidia nForce 430) is supposed be Gigabit, but it's running only at 100Mbps, as indicated by the lights on the mobo and on the Gigabit switch to which it's connected.

Is there some FreeNAS parameter I can change to get it running at full speed, or does FreeNAS not support Gigabit speed on this NIC?

If I can't get Gigabit speed with the onboard networking I'll probably get an Intel PCIe card that is supported.

 

[ProtoSD]

Check the 'unofficial FAQ' in my signature, the command is in there. Don't recall it off the top of my head, sorry.

 

[Z300M]

The commands you specify in the FAQ are:

1. ifconfig -a grep media

This gives me the usage instructions for ifconfig, so it appears that the syntax is wrong for my machine -- or for this version of FreeNAS


2. ifconfig em0 media 1000baseTX mediaopt full-duplex

This told me: "interface em0 does not exist"

So, assuming this was the name of a specific interface, I substituted nfe0, which was the interface I saw when I entered ifconfig on its own.

When I issued the command from a Windows7 machine (with PuTTY),
On one occasion this caused the network to disconnect altogether, as evidenced by the corresponding light on the switch to go out.
On some occasions the light on the switch remained illuminated, but the NAS box was no longer accessible over the network at all.

If I issue the above command from a machine running "the OS for which Windows was intended to be merely a placeholder" (i.e., OS/2 -- more precisely, its updated OEM version marketed under the name eComStation), I get:

"ifconfig: SIOCSIFMEDIA (media): Operation not permitted"

I get the same even if I substitute 100baseTX for 1000baseTX

So it seems as though the nForce interface is not able to have its parameters altered at all.

 

[ProtoSD]

Glad you figured out to substitute your interface for em0. Have you tried it from the console instead of while you're using the interface/connected to it?

If I issue the above command from a machine running "the OS for which Windows was intended to be merely a placeholder" (i.e., OS/2 -- more precisely, its updated OEM version marketed under the name eComStation), I get:

"ifconfig: SIOCSIFMEDIA (media): Operation not permitted"

I'm confused, why are you issuing the command on your OS/2 system? Try the console on your FreeNAS system.

 

[Z300M]

Glad you figured out to substitute your interface for em0. Have you tried it from the console instead of while you're using the interface/connected to it?


I'm confused, why are you issuing the command on your OS/2 system? Try the console on your FreeNAS system.

I thought that as long as I am logged into the NAS box from another machine (with SSH) it should be possible to execute all the necessary commands. The NAS box is now running "headless" (no keyboard or monitor), after I did the initial setup and determined what IP address it was going to use. I did all the other configuration from the Web interface on another box, so I thought that I'd be able to configure the interface remotely as well. If that is not possible, then I'll have to move the NAS box temporarily to where a monitor is available to be connected.

 

[ProtoSD]

Well that's mostly the case, but when you mess with the network interface while also using/being connected to it you may end up with unreliable results, and get yourself disconnected without a way to reconnect. I think just to be certain it's better to try from the console, maybe try and ping some stuff from there also, then try and reconnect from your browser if you can ping out.

 

[Z300M]

I moved the NAS box to where I could connect a monitor then issued the prescribed commands from the console, I was able to switch the nfe0 interface into 1000baseTX mode, but then I got "status: no carrier" and I could no longer access the NAS box from any other computer on the network.

I switched it back into 100baseTX mode, and it reported "status: active", but I still couldn't access it remotely until I rebooted -- and then it was in the slower mode, of course.

I switched it into 1000baseTX mode and rebooted, but it still came up in 100baseTX mode.

 

[ProtoSD]

I'm sorry to hear that. You would think that with an older motherboard, the drivers would be as new as they will get. I think if you want Gig, you might need to get an add-on card unless someone else has another idea.